Published 10:14 pm, Friday, November 30, 2012

Tom's history in running goes back even further than mine, if that's possible, having run with the Greater Boston Track Club teams of Bill Rodgers and Greg Meyer back in the `70s.

As such, Tom possesses a perspective on the sport unmatched by many. And in spite of its apparent robust health, he's concerned enough about a potential bust coming after the current boom to be thinking about how we can capitalize on the current upswing in participation.

"Running seems to be all about participation, health, and fun," he said between flights. "There's nothing wrong with that. But there's a real danger we're losing the competitive aspect of the sport completely. And if we don't bring that back to the forefront, running risks becoming an activity rather than a sport.

"What makes news these days about races isn't who won or how fast they ran, but how big the field was and how much money was raised for what charity," he continued. "But that's a dead end. How much bigger can races become?"

Derderian also worries about the increasing cost of entering races.

"It's going to reach the point that people are going to become more selective, racing less frequently," he posits. "Then what will happen is races will compete against each other for what's in effect a shrinking pool of participants."

The result, he fears, could be a cannabilization of the sport, with a resultant downturn as runners go off to find other activities in their leisure time.

"It's already happening to a small extent," he said. "Just racing isn't enough. Mud runs, color runs -- all these events are springing up because runners are getting bored with events that are `just' races."

Derderian has some ideas to combat this potential running bust. And he hopes to implement some of them in the next year in his association, which includes all the New England states except Connecticut and Maine.

It might be worthwhile for Nutmeg State runners to take a look north and east across our borders to see how they work.